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U N I V E R S I T À D I P I S A
DIPARTIMENTO DI INGEGNERIA DELL’INFORMAZIONE
Dottorato di Ricerca in Ingegneria dell’Informazione
Activity Report by the Student Roberta NOSSA – Cycle XXII
Tutor: Prof. Arti AHLUWALIA
1. Formation Activity
TOTAL COURSES/CREDITS FROM PhD START:
Course name Credits Int/Ext
XXXVII scuola internazionale di bioingegneria 5 Ext
UBORA Design School 2018 3 Ext
Academic English Course C1+ 5 Int
Semiconductor trip: from a simple idea to a complex manufacturing (STMicroelec-tronics)
6 Int
PhD Plus 6 Ext
Electrochemical Energy Storage for Flexible Microelectronics. Principle and applica-tions.
5 Int
Academic English Course C1 5 Int
Rapid Prototyping for Engineers 3 Int
Nanoscale Biohybrid Engineering 5 Int
Total credits 43
(29 Int + 14 ext)
In addition to the attendance of these courses, I did also other useful activities for my formation, in particular:
• Support to the teaching course “Tecnologie per la Medicina Rigenerativa” held by Prof. Arti Ahluwalia.
• Supervision of two master degree students during their thesis work:
o Caterina di Ciolo - Impedance Measurements at Air-Liquid Interface in Pulmonary Models; supervisors: Prof. Arti Ahluwalia, Dr. Otmar Schmid, Roberta Nossa
o Rossella Rubino - Ingegnerizzazione di un dispositivo core-shell per l’incapsulamento cellulare; supervisors: Prof. Arti Ahluwalia, Licia Di Pietro, Roberta Nossa
• Supervision of a bachelor degree student during her thesis work:
o Roberta Domina – Caratterizzazione meccanica di membrane bio-ibride per modelli in vitro di barriere biologiche; supervisors: Prof. Arti Ahluwalia, Roberta Nossa
• Support during the UniPi international “UBORA Design School 2018”, a summer school about design process of medical devices compliant to relevant standards. I worked on the organization of didactic activity and as mentor, who had the role of guiding groups in the design of medical device assigned as challenge during the school.
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2. Research Periods at Qualified Research Institutions
During my 3rd year of PhD I was hosted for 3 months (May-August 2019) at the Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI, Faculté de Science et Médicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland). While work performed at the Research Centre E. Piaggio consisted in the design and validation of the bioreactor from an engineer-ing point of view, durengineer-ing the period spent at AMI I dealt with the validation from a biological point of view. Therefore, I installed the DALI bioreactor in their cell culture laboratory in order to verify its suitability as an efficient and predictive in vitro model of the alveolar barrier. Moreover, I validated the designed Quartz Crystal Microbalance using the nanoparticles provided by AMI and approved by the PATROLS consortium. I also attended a workshop regarding advanced lung cell culture models in Montreaux (CH), organized by my supervisor at AMI. Finally, I helped with the organization of a workshop on 3D cell culture models: Lung,
in-testine and skin tissues, organized by the PATROLS and CITYCARE consortia. During the workshop, I had an
oral presentation regarding the DALI system, followed by a practical session during which its working prin-ciple was shown. Time spent at this institution was useful for my research because I learned cell culture and cell staining procedures, nebulization procedures, and I have been introduced to the Laser Scanner Micros-copy (LSM).
3. Publications
International Journals
[J1] R. Nossa, J. Costa, L. Cacopardo, A. Ahluwalia: Characterization of new biohybrid membranes for in vitro models of physiological barriers. In preparation.
[J2] R. Nossa, J. Costa, L. Cacopardo, A. Ahluwalia: Breathing in vitro: designs and applications of engi-neered lung models. Submitting.
[J3] L. Cacopardo, N. Guazzelli, R. Nossa, G. Mattei, A. Ahluwalia: "Engineering hydrogel viscoelasticity", Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials 89:162-167, September 2018. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2018.09.031
[J4] A. Remuzzi, M. Figliuzzi, B. Bonandrini, S. Silvani, N. Azzollini, R. Nossa, A. Benigni, G. Remuzzi: "Experi-mental Evaluation of Kidney Regeneration by Organ Scaffold Recellularization”, Scientific Reports 7:43502, March 2017. DOI: 10.1038/srep43502.
International Conferences/Workshops with Peer Review
[C1] R. Nossa*, L. Cacopardo, J. Costa and A. Ahluwalia: "Engineering a dynamic model of the alveolar inter-face for the study of aerosol deposition", European Society for Biomaterials (ESB 2019). Dresden, Germany, September 2019. Oral presentation.
[C2] R. Nossa*, L. Cacopardo, J. Costa and A. Ahluwalia: “Characterization of new biohybrid membranes for in vitro models of physiological barriers”, European Society for Biomaterials (ESB 2019). Dresden, Germany, September 2019. Oral presentation.
[W3] R. Nossa*, L. Cacopardo, J. Costa and A. Ahluwalia: "Engineering a dynamic model of the alveolar in-terface for the study of aerosol deposition", Workshop on 3D cell culture models: Lung, intestine and skin tissues. Organized by the PATROLS and CITYCARE consortia, Fribourg, Switzerland, July 2019. Oral
presen-tation.
[C4] Nossa, R.*, Cacopardo, L., Costa, J., and Ahluwalia, A.: Engineering of a dynamic model of the alveolar interface for the study of aerosol deposition. Second “Centro 3R” Annual Meeting. Genova, Italy, June 2019. Poster presentation. Winner of the 4th-place poster prize.
[C5] R. Nossa*, R. Domina, D. Cei, and A. Ahluwalia: "Engineering a dynamic model of the alveolar interface for the study of aerosol deposition.", European Society for Alternatives to Animal Testing, EUSAAT 2018, September 2018. Winner of the Young Scientist Travel Award. Oral presentation.
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[C6] R. Nossa*, R. Domina, and A. Ahluwalia: “A new poly(carbonate)urethane/gelatin electrospun mem-brane for physiological barriers in in vitro models”, Nanoengineering for Mechanobiology, Camogli, Italy, March 2018. Poster presentation.
[C7] L. Cacopardo*, N. Guazzelli, R. Nossa, G. Mattei, A. Ahluwalia: “Engineering viscoelasticity in bio-materials”, Nanoengineering for Mechanobiology, Camogli, Italy, March 2018. Oral presentation
[C8] L. Cacopardo*, N. Guazzelli, R. Nossa, G. Mattei, A. Ahluwalia: “Engineering viscoelasticity in bio-materials”, Italian European Society of Biomechanics (ESB-ITA), Rome, Italy, September 2017. Oral presen-tation.
[C9] G. Mattei, L. Cacopardo, N. Guazzelli, R. Nossa, A. Ahluwalia*: “Effect of the testing and sample geom-etry on biomaterial mechanical properties”, European Society of Biomechanics Conference, ESB Seville 2017, July 2017. Oral presentation.
[C10] R. Nossa*, D. Cei, C. Di Ciolo, A. Ahluwalia: "Engineering a dynamic model of the alveolar interface for the study of aerosol deposition", Advances in Cell and Tissue Culture (ACTC), KIRKSTALL, Manchester, UK, May 2017. Poster presentation.
Others
[O1] R. Nossa*, R. Domina, D. Cei, and A. Ahluwalia: "Engineering a dynamic model of the alveolar interface for the study of aerosol deposition”, Gruppo Nazionale di Bioingegneria, GNB 2018, June 2018. Poster presentation. * Presenting author Pisa, 07/05/2020
